There is no such thing as a "1099 employee." An independent contractor is given a 1099 for the work they do, but they are not an employee. An IC has their own equipment, sets their own schedule, works on their own. The IRS has very narrow guidelines on who qualifies as a IC.

If the intended worker is working under your supervision, using your tools and equipment, then they are an employee. As an employer, you regard this worker as an employee with regard to withholding taxes, unemployment, etc.

Check the IRS website for specifics. This will help you decide if you want an IC, or an employee.

Ditto everything from Roger. My crew guys are employees, I do the payroll and all withholdings etc. I have one 1099 IC that is my sales guy, ex biz partner of mine. He gets paid a percentage. He buys his on biz cards, does his own thing to get new biz, works his own hours. I personally know of a couple LCOs that pay their employees as if they were 1099 ICs but I wouldn't want to be in their shoes come audit time. I asked why they did that and both times the answer was the same so I don't have to mess with tax withholding." It can be a PITA to do the withholdings but it is what it is. I use Intuit Online Payroll runs me around $45 a month, much cheaper than anything else I could find.

You have a ton of reading to do if you want to compensate
a guy for his labor without all the incompetent state/federal idiots
meddling in your affairs. It absolutely can be done. It is every
humans private choice weather to be robbed blind by those idiots,
or choose to have a private compensated affair with the owner of a
business.

Remember, just because the majority of people will tell you,
(It's just the way it is)(you have to pay your taxes), it is
patently false. The choice is between you and a guy you'd like
to compensate for his time. Until he signs his life away on a piece
of paper, he/she is free to do business privately without any
intervention from some other corporation (fed/state/city/county)
etc.

Remember: Read, Read some more, Read it again. Do what you will.
Stop being scared. Stop living in fear. Give another human the
choice to be robbed blind, or make his own way privately.

As in trying to skirt "their legal and tax system" with a 1099
employee, why waste your breath. I won't go into detail how you
can do that. It most definitely is better to be a competent people
than the majority of business owners that "always" try to skirt
"their rules". Better to be truthful to the people you compensate
than to be a degenerate gambler, fraudster and pathological lair
by playing "their game".